King Lear (Thames Television/1974)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Main Program: B

 

 

Another all-time popular Shakespeare play is King Lear, which has had many critically successful versions on film and TV.  Closely following our look at the Ian Holm version in 1998, we now look at this 1974 version with Patrick Magee.  Both are equally impressive and engaging, with Holm delivering all kinds of energy.  However, when it comes to being weathered by time and suffering its misery, Magee has outdone him.  There is something extra bitter about Magee, yet not so much so that it is purely bitter.  Instead, he brings something knowing that it would seem Holm could more easily hide.

 

Mind you, Holm was amazing, but Magee makes the work seem more aged, which gives it a slight authenticity edge and producer/director Tony Davenall seems to realize this enough to know how to use him to bring out the drama and dysfunction of the family in ways that are creepy.  Again, this Thames production has mostly unknown actors, though they are likely very known to the British stage and even British TV.  This is another impressive high-quality Shakespeare production of exemplary quality that holds up incredibly well over three decades later.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image was shot on professional analog PAL video of the time and is dated with unavoidable softness and color flaws throughout, but the way it was taped is always compelling and involving.  Oddly, it still looks a bit better than Romeo & Juliet, produced two years later for the same series.  This was a golden time for British TV with great talent all over doing prolific work.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 takes the broadcast mono and boosts it to a decent (if simple) stereo), making this as watchable as possible technically.  The extras include notes from Davenall and featurette with Patrick Mower on playing Edmund.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo